Tompkins County recognized among nation’s top digital counties

ITHACA, N.Y. — Tompkins County has earned recognition as one of the nation’s top digital counties, using technology “to improve services and boost efficiencies.”

That’s according to the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Folsom, Calif.–based Center for Digital Government, which ranked Tompkins County among its top 10 counties nationwide in the category.

The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government, according to its website.

Tompkins County’s public-information officer made the announcement in a Tuesday news release.

The county tied for sixth position in the up to 150,000 population category, according to the news release.

The organizations based the ranking on the county’s digital achievements in the categories of civic engagement, policy, operations, and technology and data.

The accomplishments include the innovative use of digital-records scanning technology through an enterprise documents-management system, a digital approach that saved Tompkins County $5.5 million and the need for physical-records facility, according to the news release.

Managing records through the Laserfiche documents-management system enabled the county to scan 9,000 boxes of records housed in its “deteriorating” Records Center, destroy the paper, and vacate the building.

In doing so, Tompkins County avoided the planned cost of renovating or constructing a new building. 

The county is now using the electronic technology to manage records and automate business processes in its 28 departments, the court system, and in 17 municipal partners through a shared-services agreement, which includes the city of Ithaca and all of the county’s towns and villages, according to the Tompkins County news release.

The county employs digital technology to improve relationships and efficiencies among county departments, and to enable law-enforcement agencies to share data and information to increase efficiencies and improve public safety. 

Digital technologies foster and encourage civic engagement, including the county’s online-meeting portal, through which residents can access meeting schedules, agendas, minutes, and other materials; and view web-streams of live and past county legislature meetings.

Greg Potter, the county’s information-technology services (ITS) director, accepted the award on Tompkins County’s behalf at the NACo annual conference last weekend in New Orleans.

“ITS and [the] county clerk’s staff deserve daily recognition for their diligent efforts and work. Receiving this award has meant a great deal to my staff and to Tompkins County,” said Potter.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com